Riflescopes and reticles are changing continuously as shooting changes and technology develops. There have been a number of recent advances in reticle design, but none have fully resolved all of the problems or limitations in certain types of shooting.
Typical riflescopes have two focal planes, one in front of the zoom magnification system (that is, the erector system), and the other behind the zoom magnification system. A reticle may be placed at either of the focal planes, and there are advantages and disadvantages related to each. Reticles placed in front of the zoom magnification system are typically called “first focal plane” reticles and those placed behind the zoom magnification system are typically called “second focal plane” reticles.
The majority of shooters prefer first focal plane reticles. Such reticles and the image viewed through the riflescope will change in size in proportion to one another: as the image gets bigger, the information on the reticle gets bigger at the same rate. One advantage to a first focal plane reticle is that any measurement marks on the reticle will be accurate at any magnification setting the user chooses. As the image is magnified, the information on the reticle appears to get larger along with the image at the same rate, so all reticle markings will be accurate to its designed scale of measurement. Further, the lines which make-up the reticle will get thicker to the user's eye at higher magnifications, and thinner at lower magnifications.
In addition, shooters commonly encounter targets that may be either stationary or moving. For moving targets, it is often advantageous to use a lower magnification setting in order to maximize the field of view through the riflescope. For stationary targets, however, large field of view is not nearly as important, so the shooter can take advantage of a higher magnification setting. As a result, a shooter who encounters both types of targets would benefit from having a reticle that provides features that cater to each.
Many shooters would like to dial their turret for elevation but hold their reticle for windage or for moving targets, rather than dialing for their elevation and windage, which they may do when targeting stationary targets. It is typically easier and faster to dial for elevation than for windage, and many shooters find dialing windage adjustments inefficient when encountering a moving target.
When shooting at stationary targets, many shooters like having a fine cross for aiming. However, some shooters prefer an “open center” for the main crosshair area of the reticle such as the Vortex EBR-2C reticle. Using connected fine subtension markings and a horizontal stadia line provide multiple fine aiming points along the horizontal axis for a shooter who dials for elevation but holds for windage on a stationary target.
It is difficult, however, to produce a reticle that works well for both stationary and moving targets where the shooter does not want to dial for windage when tracking a moving target. For example, shooters who want to dial for elevation but hold for windage lose the benefit of having a fine aiming point when not aiming at the exact center crosshair of the reticle. In addition, aiming at moving targets require less fine (coarse) subtension markings, whereas stationary targets need finer subtension marks.
Another problem with many existing reticles are that the information displayed may be confusing and/or cluttered. For example, some reticles include subtension markings of varying lengths and/or relating to angular measurements in both Milliradians (MRADs) and Minutes of Angle (MOA), making the shooter have to memorize to which graduation the subtension markings relate.
There is also a trend in sighting devices to have an increased magnification range. It is not uncommon for scopes to have 6× magnification ranges and some scopes even have magnification ranges in the 10× or more range. As magnification ranges increase, it becomes more difficult to optimize the line thickness of reticles used in the first focal plane because there is a much larger change in reticle line size over the magnification range.
As such, there is a need for a reticle for shooters that prefer to dial for elevation and hold for windage that utilizes both coarse and fine aiming points at the center crosshair as well as along the main horizontal stadia line.